Thank you, very interesting and thoughtful post, and great (but confronting photographs). Reminds me of days driving container trucks in Melbourne, two of the most eye-watering sites I had to pick up from were a tannery where pallets of salted hides were packed into containers for export, and a factory where tallow (animal fat) was recycled and packed into drums for export, probably to go into soap. The stench of both those places is something that will never leave me, especially on a +40deg summers day. I can barely imagine what life is like for these workers :-(

My pick for next word of the year....confusopoly! very apt descriptive word

Sounds like someone needs a cuddle.....

Okay, I live in Auckland and admit I can have no real idea about what people are dealing with, STILL, in Christchurch. I'll admit it was possibly a bit self-serving but why is John Campbell the only person on mainstream TV keeping up with this. Canterbury and the rest of the country deserve so much better than this.
I'm a first year student doing a degree in Earth Sciences and I would be interested in peoples opinion whom are way more qualified and experienced than me. But here is something in particular that is bothering me. If we can't get the rebuild and recovery right in Christchurch, there is really not that much hope for the future in this country given it's tectonic setting. To put it simply, this isn't going to be the last time this happens and it could easily be worse next time. Something my lecturer told us put it in perspective for me, apparently if we have an event of the magnitude of the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake that considerably altered the coastline of the North Island, the Christchurch events will pale in comparison. I wish the self-serving glory seeking politicians supposedly running the rebuild from the top down would realise we absolutely cannot afford to get this wrong in a country like New Zealand.
That's just my thoughts, peace and love to the people of Canterbury from an Aucklander who does care and I hope this election produces some positive outcomes for you (not that getting your life and city rebuilt should depend on partisan politics).

You could try water bath, Put the lids on the jars (with product inside jars of course) put the jars inside very big pot with water up till about 1cm below the lids, boil for about 20 mins, that should make the contents of the jar nice and hot. Take them out, let them cool and hopefully watch the lids seal. I use this for roast peppers marinated in olive oil, works a treat.

I haven't had time to read all the responses to this wonderful blog. Nice to see blokes getting excited about stuff that really matters.
I'm prepared to stand corrected, but from many conversations and interactions with the fairer sex, good cooking skills are pretty much at the top there with things that will impress them.

If I'm already repeating someone else or you already know this Russell, take your knives for sharpening to The House of Knives on Mt. Eden Road.Please please don't take them anywhere else, Shannon is probably one of the few if only people in Auckland who knows how to sharpen a knife properly. Warning though, be prepared for a few cuts after a sharpening, they will be razor sharp.